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As a webmaster, the more you know about your
website visitors, the better able you'll be to target future
promotions, stock changes, content and more to their needs.
Google has
a new tool that can help with this.

Conventional keyword research can make it difficult to
identify overarching trends within your industry. As an
example, suppose you run a website that recommends different
credit cards and bank accounts to personal finance readers.
You want to know which banking brands are trending among your
followers, but when you use your keyword research tool, you
get a jumble of results that are hard to interpret.

The keyword list above was generated using the search term "bank"
within Google Adwords. Note that SunTrust Banks is represented
twice on this list using different spellings. In order to get a
complete idea of how many of your readers are interested in
SunTrust Banks, you'd need to add all the different SunTrust
related keywords together and compare your total against other
aggregate options.

This is where Google's new Top Charts feature comes in handy. Top
Charts provides cumulative trend data in more than 40
categories. Essentially, these charts reveal the subjects that
people in a given industry are most interested in based on
overall search habits -- not on individual keyword volumes.

Returning to our previous example, if you were a webmaster
running a financial services website, this Top Chart would
provide you with valuable insight into what consumers are
actually interested in, without the hassle associated with adding
together different keyword variations.

In this case, the "Financial companies" Top Chart reveals that
consumers are most interest in Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of
America products. Featuring these companies more prominently on
your website could lead to more referrals and greater reader
loyalty based on the value of your "in tune" recommendations.

There are a number of ways that business owners can use this
trend data rather than more granular keyword suggestions:

Better-tailored promotions. By familiarizing
yourself with the general trends found in Top Charts, you can
determine which products or brands to feature most prominently
on your website. While you'll still want to test your
conversion rates amongst your unique audience, knowing which
brands or products they've demonstrated the most affinity with
in the search results can save you time when it comes to market
research.

Stronger blog post content. Even if you aren't
able to make product line decisions based on Top Charts
information alone, you can still use these trend indicators to
inform your business blog's post content. By writing posts
based on topics that you know are popular with Google search
users, you'll improve the relationship you have with your
readers, leading to repeat visits and increased social
sharing.

More relevant ads. Knowing what your target
customers are interested in can also help you to whittle down
your list of PPC keywords. If, for example, you see a certain
product type you've been advertising for slip down in Top
Charts popularity, that could be a good indication that your
advertising dollars will be better spent elsewhere.

Of course, Top Charts does have a few weaknesses from a market
research standpoint. First, there are only around 40 industries
covered, which leaves major gaps in the product's knowledge base.
If you operate in a niche market, the data found in Google's Top
Charts may be too broad for you to put to use.

In addition, webmasters will want to be aware of the limits of
such general information. Because Top Charts draws from data
created by all search engine users, there's a chance that
Google's reported trends won't be applicable to a site's smaller,
more unique audience. If, for example, your personal finance
website targets stay at home moms exclusively, you may find that
their interests deviate from the whole-population trends reported
in Top Charts.

Even still, Top Charts can be an informative tool for most
webmasters. Use the information found there to learn more about
what your customers might be interested in and to structure
future promotions, product line changes and more on your website.
Just be sure to test any changes you make using split testing and
other consumer research protocols to validate your assumptions
and to create the best possible offerings for your target
audience.